One of software’s strong points is that it is innately… well… soft! You know what is quite more rigid, though? The makeup of the organization creating it. People are a lot less malleable to change than code is. Therefore, we often miss out on opportunities. There are times when pulling your sleeves up and shuffling […]
As an industry, I think we’ve gotten too lazy and wasteful. Even teams with great leaders and talented engineers seem to have become dull and content with churning out average work. That’s partly why the current economic conditions are causing so many companies to quickly shed significant chunks of their workforce. It’s a wake-up call. […]
One of the things that “come with the job” for me is that many people approach me out of the blue and tell me what issues they’re currently struggling with. Some of those then get in touch again a few months later. Unfortunately, most report the same issues still being worked on with little to […]
Following the previous parts of this series about colocated teams and remote-only companies, it’s time to get to the final and meatiest part: hybrid work. I’ve saved the best for last since I believe that hybrid is going to be the most used collaboration pattern in our industry in the years to come. Unfortunately, it’s […]
Continuing on this series, this part will tackle remote-only work. Remote for many was a completely foreign idea up until a couple of years ago when lockdowns made it mandatory. Funnily enough, I believe most companies are better off going for full remote than most hybrid setups. Let’s see why. WFH WTH By this point, […]
Many of you are probably fed up with discussions of remote vs. hybrid after the last couple of years. Nevertheless, this is one of tech’s most essential and culture-defining parts of organizational leadership. Since I’ve seen many teams globally go through transitions and learn what seems to be working better, I decided to share with […]
No CTO in the world would pass on a magic wand that would magically make their engineers more senior. It seems like experience, even in well-balanced teams, is something we always want more of. To get more experience in the team, until recently, startups relied on ever-increasing headcounts. That strategy, alas, doesn’t seem like it […]
Right off the bat, let me say that we are going to discuss a first-world problem: Your team’s doing great, and you don’t know what to do? Boohoo. Where’s the world’s smallest violin when you need it? Nevertheless, it is a real issue. So much so that I’ve seen leaders that spotted things could get […]
There’s a mini-crisis going on right now in the tech sector. And the most important thing about these is, of course, to never waste a good crisis. One thing that is becoming clear again is that companies are definitely not families. That’s a good thing for everyone involved. Let’s discuss conscious culture-forming around this concept […]
Let’s clarify: I am not against using objectives as a tech executive to guide your organization. In fact, I believe they are a fantastic tool for gaining alignment and focus. However, I have an issue with bad objectives that serve the exact opposite. This article covers what should be your default focus for objectives, what […]